Bernard apparantly held Clark Gable responsible for his emigration to California from Germany in 1937. Prior to his flight from the Nazis in Berlin he had seen the film San Francisco starring Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. He was so moved by the film that he decided that California was where he wanted to study and at the last minute changed the planned destination of his escape from Rio de Janeiro to San Francisco.

After seeing Bruno Bernard's portrait photographs of Clark Gable, Walter Winchell called Bernard ..The Rembrandt of photography...